It was just six years ago today that I started my Chic n Scratch blog.

It's been an amazing journey filled with so many twists and turns.

Who knew ...six years later ... what can I say ....some days I find it hard to believe!!

It's an emotional week anyway .. Brooke is leaving for college on Friday and I've cried every day for weeks. I know ... she's only moving 30 minutes away. My answer to that is ...she's still moving. I will not know if she's in bed safe and sound..she won't be in my room every night giving Miss Bella hugs and kisses and visiting with me ...no more watching Big Brother together (and laughing really hard at those crazy people). And she's just like me ...independent and strong and wants to find her own path. (I always say I learn everything the hard way ... by trial and error.) I love that about her ..but it also scares me!! I will miss her more than I can say! Brooke if you ever find your way to my blog .. I LOVE YOU!! (Chase I LOVE YOU too!!)

Sorry I totally went on a lane swerve there .... I could delete it but most of you already know I'm an emotional person ...it's what makes me who I am.

So ....back to my Blog Anniversary......THANK YOU TO ALL MY FOLLOWERS!!! & most especially for sticking by my side for the past 16 months (I know it hasn't been easy).

I'm going to give away a.........

Ghoulish Googlies Designer Kit

All the supplies needed to make ten of these treat bags .... or make 10 of the bags you'll see on Week #1 of my 12 Weeks of Halloween. HERE ARE THE MECHANICS OF THIS Blog Candy:

WHO CAN ENTER?

Anyone who lives in the US can enter to win.

One entry per person.

Leave a comment on this blog post or on my Chic n Scratch Facebook page.

GIVEAWAY PERIOD & ANNOUNCEMENT OF WINNER

This blog candy starts August 14, 2012 to midnight.

The winner will be picked by a random generator.

Winner will be announced on August 16th on my blog post.

A confirmation email will be sent (please be sure to include your correct email).

August 13, 2012

My card today is a swap card I received from Dani. I LOVE it and decided that this would be the first swap card I share .... especially since I'm crazy busy with making all 12 projects & videos for my 12 Weeks of Halloween.

Speaking of the 12 weeks of Halloween ... I usually share those with my newsletter service ...only ..... but this year I'm going to share it both in my newsletter and on my blog. The reason I decided to change is many of you have an email service that sends my newsletters to your spam box ..or into lala land!! So, that got me to thinking ... how can I get it out to everyone ..without creating more work for myself....and what I came up with is posting it on my blog.

Without getting to technical I've started a new service to handle my email......I spent hours on Google trying to find a system to get my email box empty and how to stay on top of it... with a little help fromDavid Allen & the app Evernote. I'm super excited to get started with the Getting Things Done method!! (Another tip I found was to get up at 3am once a week and check email for 4 hours ... that may work ..I'm pretty sure I won't get interruptions at 3am...or at least I hope not!!!)

Thanks for all the kind words about the Holiday Ornament ... If you decide to make one ...be sure to let me know ..and tell me how many have you made :) ....who can make just one?

p.s. I'm going to visit San Fransisco with my hubby later next week ... for those of you that live there .. what would you recommend while I'm there. I'm gonna skip the spa stuff and see some sights!!! (This will be my first trip to California and I'm soooo excited....and I've heard the weather is awesome.)

Additional note about the video ... I changed my tunes on my video tutorials to the Convention theme song... "I am". I LOVE it and I bet you will to! If you'd like to listen to the majority of the song .. stay after the video (at the end) and you can hear more.

Would you like to own this Holiday Ornament? To enter to win ... all you need to do is leave a comment on this post. (If you've never left a comment ... just scroll down to the end of the post and click on the little tiny word "comment" and then fill in the blanks.)

The deadline is Sunday at midnight and I'll announce the winner on my blog post for Monday.

12pm UPDATE: The Stampin Up ordering system will be offline for approximately three hours on Saturday, August 11.

p.s. I'm thinking of streaming live this weekend ...but I'm not sure .. it depends if my hubby can make it home ..and then leave again. (Flight was cancelled last night.) If he gets home today and turns around and leaves again .. I can stream tomorrow at 11am central time. So ... if you're a fan of live streams .. please check my blog either tonight or tomorrow morning and I'll let you know for sure.

August 08, 2012

My email box is ALWAYS full and as much as I try to respond to each and every one .... it's impossible. It drives me crazy because my nature is to do everything .... but I've accepted that I can not and I'm going to fix it ...or try!!

My assistant Julie has her own email..... and.... sometimes I'll ask you to email her at julie@mychicnscratch.com ...or I may forward the email you sent me.... to her.

For example Product Shares ...Julie handles all of those emails ..so if you are interested in Product shares please email Julie at Julie@mychicnscratch.com.

If she doesn't know the answer ..... she will either ask me or forward your email to me.

Now's the time to also bring up that ...no email is perfect. Some emails are never delivered and some go to spam folders. I hope that between the two of us we can get more of them answered ....quicker.

If you don't hear from either of us ...in a timely manner ... you're welcome to email us again. During the holidays it's not unusual to get 400+ emails a day ..and if I miss a day or two ... it can get really crazy.

So ... if you have a question .. email angie@mychicnscratch.com ... but just know you may get a response from julie@mychicnscratch.com (you'll also notice she doesn't say things like "hey" ..the way that I do).

A few days ago I told you I would be starting my 12 weeks of Halloween today ... but ....I've hit a few snags and it will be delayed.

I have four weeks of projects made and they're ready to be filmed ...but I used up all my Howlstooth Designer Paper (obsessing over making the Halloween ornaments). To be on the safe side I'm NOT going to say when I'll post it ...that way I won't disappoint you again. As soon as I get the paper and can get some quiet time to film a video I'll get to it!!

The other snag is .... Chase had oral surgery yesterday and I'm back to being a nurse. I thought it was going to be a simple in and out thing .. I was WRONG! He can't eat or talk for 48 hours (liquid diet) ... and he has to apply pressure non stop..... AND .... him being a guy ....they are way more needy than girls (shush ... don't tell the guys I said that).

It's taken me three days to get it right and I'm happy to report I can show you how to make the Stampin Up Holiday catalog ornament that's on the front cover.

And here's my Halloween version.....

I've got everything ready to do a video ... and hopefully I can post it this evening. But it really depends on how much Chase needs me and how many other distractions happen. When I'm finished with the video I'll work on my version of the written instructions.

A HUGE thank you goes out to the ladies that sent me the instructions. We talked about it on my live stream the other day and several ladies sent me the instructions from Stampin Up I'm not going to share those because you'll want more instructions than what they provide. I promise after my video you'll know how and will no longer be confused. AND .. it's not as hard as it looks .. I promise.

August 04, 2012

You are welcome and to sign into to your You Tube account and participate in the Chat Box ...but PLEASE use the Chat Box to ask me questions or offer suggestions. Chatting amount participants is distracting and I ask that you refrain from doing so.

A word of warning ... LIVE streams are fun ... I love them!! But if you're not a patient person ..it may not be for you. If you're not able to watch it live .. the recording will be available ...and that means you can rewind and fast forward as much as you'd like.

After the Live stream .. I'll record a 10 minute or less video and post it on You Tube. (The live stream will be creating the project .... and will take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour.)

Before I close ... I have another question for you today. I'm getting ready to launch my 12 Weeks of Halloween .... but I'm thinking ...

Can I do 12 weeks of Halloween (one a week for 12 weeks) and 12 Days of Halloween (12 projects in 12 days with 12 videos). Is that too much? Can I pull it off? It wouldn't hurt to try ...but what do you all think?

If I don't see you tomorrow ..have a great weekend!!

p.s. Thanks for all the comments yesterday... you really stepped up to the plate!! I appreciate that you understood the explanation of my Facebook business page.

August 02, 2012

Next I shared with them my 2nd version ...and they liked that one much better.

Today .. I'm giving my blog readers that are not on Facebook an opportunity to have their voice heard.

Let me know which card is your favorite.

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

Here's the picture of my warm up card .. You have to look really close to see the piercing around the scallop.Up Close ..

My August Thank You Card is using the Mixed Medley Stamp set ...it's a hostess set in the Holiday Mini Catalog (back page). I LOVE IT!!!

The colors are Baja Breeze and Early Espresso and I used the Note Cards on page 160 of the Stampin Up Catalog.

I'll share a video as soon as I decide which card to use.

A few of you have ask me about my posting on my Chic n Scratch Facebook page so I thought I would try to explain it.

Facebook is inter active ...meaning I can post something on there and get immediate response. Comments on blogs are few and far between. So, if I'm looking for an answer immediately I'm going to post over there. I do my best to share that info on my blog ..but sometimes it's after the fact and no longer relevant.

I apologize if you're not a fan of Facebook!! I wasn't either ..until I finally figured it out. It took me a year and I'm still embarrased that I didn't get it sooner....especially after I deleted a bunch of friends because I thought their stuff was showing up on my page.

If you're wanting to know where to go on Facebook .. It's my business page .... not my personal page. Click here to go there...once you're there all you need to do is click on the Like button and you'll receive everything I post over there.

I'm happy to be a person friend on Facebook ...but I'll warn you .. I don't post that much .. it's mainly health stuff and movie check in.

Each month (July, August and Sept) the person that spends the highest amount with me (I see how some of you are ordering two and three times a month) will get the Stamp Kit of the Month for free (includes Stamp set and all the supplies to make six cards + envelopes ..... kit does not include ink or adhesive).

Each month I'll draw one name (from everyone that orders places an online order with me) to also get a Stamp Kit of the Month. (Name will be drawn using Random Generator website.)

If you subscribe to my blog feed through Google ... meaning you get my blog posts in your email box.

I wanted to let you know that I've changed the delivery time to 3pm - 5pm. I know it's better to get them to you earlier ...but ... if I don't get everything posted by 1pm ...it's sent the next day. So, I changed it because I'm usually done with everything by 3pm.

I will do my best to post mid day as usual but on days like yesterday it will be helpful to have an additional two hours!

If you are not familiar with the Google feed ... stay tuned ..when my new site goes live I'll provide a video on how you can sign up.

Since Convention I've been racking my brain ... trying to come up with a new program.

I have this idea ...but often times I don't think it all the way through ..or I try to think of everything and I fail. So ...I'm going to try this for this for 3 months .. to see how it goes ...but before I can begin .. I need a name :)

After posting my warm up cards on my Chic n Scratch Facebook page last night I heard loud and clear that everyone likes to provide feedback. And I love it!!

If you'd like to help me name this ... feel free to post a comment on this post or email me at angie@mychicnscratch.com.

Here's how it will work ... I was thinking about calling it my VIP's ..but then all my customers are my VIP's and I appreciate you all! So maybe VIP's is not the right name.

Each month (for July, August and Sept) the person that spends the highest amount with me (I see how some of you are ordering two and three times a month) will get the Stamp Kit of the Month for free (includes Stamp set and all the supplies to make six cards .. does not include ink or adhesive).

Each month I'll try one name (from everyone that orders places an online order with me) to also get a Stamp Kit of the Month.

That way I'm rewarding the person that is loyal and orders from me a lot and I'm also including someone that may or may not be able to afford to spend as much.

I'm not the best at wording .. my intentions are good.

Let me know what you think and feel free to suggest a name.

Thanks!!

p.s. I have July's names ready to announce .. and as soon as I name the program I'll post it.

There are a ton of things I need to tell you ...but I have an appointment first thing this morning .. so I'm going to say "Stay Tuned".... Later today. (My post may miss the feed from Google ...so that means if you get my blog posts through your email ... you may get the email tomorrow.)

I'm going to attempt to stream live this afternoon ... I"ll post those details when I get home. Again I'm going to test You Tube .. patience will be required :)

Once a Product Share is full I will place the order with Stampin' Up! and when it arrives I will cut, sort, assemble and mail. Process should take about two weeks after the order has been placed with Stampin Up!

Ribbon Shares are wrapped & protected with our Cellophane Bags.

Designer Paper Shares are packaged with Stampin Up Cello bags.

DSP Samplettes are packaged in a ziplock bag and shipped in an envelope.

If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact me at angie@mychicnscratch.com.

p.s. Please remember if you're ordering Product Shares to place your order using Angie@mychicnscratch.net.